


I'm Going to Tell Her

by kissesforkorra



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, First Kiss, Jock Suki, Mutual Pining, Short One Shot, background kataang, background zukka, but its set in republic city, but they're both oblivious, soft, that felt important enough for a tag, yueki, zuko is princess peach in mario party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 09:07:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27848226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissesforkorra/pseuds/kissesforkorra
Summary: After a visit to the Northern Water Tribe, Yue's back in Republic City, and she's resolved to tell Suki she loves her.
Relationships: Suki/Yue (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	I'm Going to Tell Her

“Fifty? Seriously?” 

“C’mon, I’ll prove it to you!” 

Yue just smiles and shakes her head, settling deeper into the couch in between Toph and Aang, who shrieks when Aang’s character, Yoshi, gets punched by Zuko’s character.  Zuko laughs. “You just got Peached!” Then  Katara yells for everyone to shut up, furiously punching buttons, Rosalina’s fists flying after Sokka’s Bowser. 

Yue sighs peacefully. Though she enjoyed visiting her hometown family and friends, she missed being with everyone in Sokka and Zuko’s apartment in Republic City. The Northern Water Tribe is her people, but here, in this cramped living room, with an empty cardboard pizza box on the coffee table and more than enough tea to go around, is her home. 

Yue tries to take it all in; Sokka’s blue eyes open wide, staring, unblinking, at the screen while he leans against Zuko’s legs; Zuko’s gentle “hah!” when he rolls a six; Aang airbending a dorito into their mouth after Toph doesn’t share; Katara yelling, “Aang airbended a chip!” without looking away from the game; Zuko and Sokka shouting, in unison, “No earthbending inside!”; and Toph growling, “It was  _ one time _ ,” as she feels Aang scramble away, warning them, “Watch your back, twinkle toes.” 

Yue glances over at Suki, who sits on the ground, leaning back on her hands, legs stretched out in front of her. She throws her head back, laughing, eyes squinting shut, pieces of auburn hair falling from her ponytail, framing her face. The sleeves of her Kiyoshi Warriors volleyball practice uniform are rolled in on themselves, exposing toned forearms, and Yue thinks,  _ I’m going to tell her. Tonight.  _

“Aw, man!” Sokka throws his hands up, and Zuko, laughing victoriously, quickly leans back to avoid getting hit. “I was so close that time!” Yue snaps her attention back to the TV, willing the blush she knows hides just beneath her cheeks to stay put. 

Toph clears her throat. “Did no one else hear Suki offer to do fifty push ups with Yue on her back?” 

Yue gasps, feeling her cheeks warm, while chaos breaks out among her friends. 

Sokka, leaping to his feet, screeches, “THERE’S NO WAY!” Aang jumps up and down, chanting with a still seated Zuko, “Do it! Do it! Do it!” Katara tugs Yue off the couch, and Yue’s heart beats so loudly in her ears that she can’t even think straight enough to protest, and suddenly she’s staring at the back of Suki’s head, at her upper back muscles poking through her shirt while she holds herself in a plank. 

Yue climbs on, sitting cross-legged on Suki’s back, and looks up at her friends. Aang points an iPhone at her, Zuko gives her a thumbs up, and Sokka’s cheering Suki on. 

She only sees it out of the corner of her eye, but she swears she sees Toph wink. 

Suki starts doing push ups, the first downward dip prompting Yue’s hands to instinctively grab onto Suki’s shoulders for support. She tries to concentrate on everything around her, to take her mind off the moving, tense muscles in Suki’s shoulders, which turns out to be a mistake, because then all she can hear is Suki’s labored breathing and her little grunts. Yue only has just enough time to think,  _ don’t go there,  _ when her brain goes there. 

With Suki all she can feel, and Suki all she can hear, Yue closes her eyes and simultaneously wishes for this moment to end as soon as possible and to last forever. 

_ Spirits, the way her muscles move.  _ And because she’s temporarily lost the ability to think critically, she says, “Your arms are very strong.” Suki responds in a rough, strained voice, and Yue wonders if her mind is pointing and laughing at her from its first class seat in the gutter. “What did you say?” 

“My core.” Suki grunts as she pushes back up. “Harder on my core than my arms. You on my back.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve got this.” Yue closes her eyes, letting herself get lost in Suki, just in this moment. She thinks about what it would feel like to lean forward, putting her lips beside Suki’s ear, then—

The sound of her friends chanting in unison finally pulls Yue from her mind. “Forty eight! Forty nine! Fifty!” 

Yue practically jumps off Suki, heart beating erratically in her chest. Both women stand. 

“Why are  _ you _ panting?” Suki’s blue eyes look Yue up and down, and a playful smile makes Yue swallow. “You didn’t move!” 

“I was scared!” Not entirely a lie, and everyone around her is wheezing in laughter, making her laugh, too. She looks at Suki and ignores the butterflies in her chest enough to say, “I thought I might fall off.” 

Suki squeezes her shoulder, saying, “I’d never let you fall,” and Yue watches her turn to grab some water.  _ You already have.  _

“Yue!” Everyone’s settling back into their spots for the game, and Aang smiles at her, holding up their controller. “I know you’re usually Toad, but you can play a bit as Yoshi if you want.” 

“Really? Thanks!” Grateful for something to get her mind off … whatever just happened, she moves across the living room, stepping over Sokka’s legs, sitting in her seat on the couch between Aang and Toph. She takes Aang’s controller.

While the players take turns rolling the dice to determine order of play, Yue subconsciously glances over at Suki, accidentally making eye contact. Suki smiles in her full way that reminds Yue of oranges and summer. Yue smiles back.

_ I’m going to tell her. Soon. Tonight. Really.  _

❣

Two days later, in downtown Republic City, Yue thinks,  _ Okay, I swear I’m going to tell her tonight.  _ Yue twists and untwists a strand of her long, white blonde hair while standing in line with her friends, waiting to get her ticket for the movie. 

“Nuktuk is the greatest hero  _ ever _ ! He’s so strong and noble, it’s no wonder they show his movies all the time!” Sokka glances back at Yue with one arched eyebrow. “No offense, my Northern lady.” 

Yue laughs. “None taken.” Then she feels a hand between her shoulder blades, and her breath hitches. 

“Looks like I made it just in time.” Suki daps up Sokka and Toph, waves to Zuko, and hugs Katara and Aang. All the while, Yue stares—at Suki’s hair, which she’s left down today, tucked behind her ear, and at her nose, makeup giving her a cute sunburnt look, and at her exposed skin just above her shorts whenever her loose green top rises up. 

When Suki turns back to Yue, Yue clears her throat and pushes to the front of the group to buy a ticket. 

Past the queue, a few people mill about on the tacky blue carpeting—not nearly enough to justify the red velvet ropes set up to corral an expected crowd into neat lines. Clearly, not many others in Republic City are as passionate about _ the Adventures of Nuktuk: Hero of the South _ as Yue’s friends are. In line for popcorn, while her friends discuss a few of the conspiracy theories surrounding Nuktuk’s director, Iknik Varrick, Yue quietly schemes about how she can sit next to Suki. 

_ I’ve just got to trail behind her. And then, when she looks to see who’s near her, I’ll be on my phone, so it looks like I don’t care. But I’ll be standing near enough to her so no one else tries to take my spot. Then _ —

“Yue, are you okay?” Suki’s hand on Yue’s shoulder shakes away her thoughts. 

Yue nods. “I’m fine.” She looks up at the glowing screens above them, showcasing buttery popcorn, mouth-watering sodas, and—as Sokka enthusiastically points out—red and blue slushies.

“Are you sure?” Yue looks back at Suki, immediately noticing how  _ her eyes look so good like this, scrunched a bit with worry, and so blue, looking at me like she can see everything. Oh god. Can she see everything?  _ “You seem kind of off right now.” 

“I’m fine. I promise.” 

Suki doesn’t look like she believes Yue, which terrifies Yue, who wonders if maybe Suki already knows how she feels. Maybe she shouldn’t sit next to her tonight. Maybe that’s too obvious. Maybe—

“So, do you wanna sit together?” Suki asks. Yue blinks, processing the question. 

Then, as nonchalantly as possible, she shrugs. “Sure.”  _ Why did I agree to that?! _

A bright smile spreads across Suki’s face.  _ Oh. That’s why. _ “Awesome! I’ll get us a large popcorn.” Suki bounds forward to the register, ignoring Yue’s protests as she pays in full herself. She winks at Yue. “You can pay next time.” 

Yue smiles, but curses in her mind. It’s too easy to pretend that it’s just the two of them tonight, on a movie date. Something Yue’s dreamed about many times. But this night, Yue’s sure, won’t end anything like those in her dreams. 

_ Well, maybe not.  _ They walk down the hallway, Aang and Sokka skipping ahead and quoting their favorite Nuktuk lines.  _ If I tell her, maybe she’ll say it back. Then … who knows? _

Yue tries to hide her smirk. After all, Yue knows there has to be at least a small chance that Suki feels the same way. She lingers on almost every touch. She turns to smile at Yue when someone in the group does something funny. She winks and she places her hand on the back of Yue’s head when they hug and she drunk calls Yue, giggling and speaking garbled sentences. 

And sometimes, in those calls, she slurs, “I love you.” 

_ But that’s not what it means,  _ Yue quickly thinks, trying not to get too ahead of herself.  _ No, it’s just that we’re so close. And she only says it when she’s super drunk, too, so it doesn’t even count.  _ Yue glances at Suki, trying to smile as normally as possible when she notices the woman’s worried expression. 

Suki raises her eyebrows, silently asking, “Are you sure?” 

Yue nods, wordlessly responding, “Yes. I’m fine.” 

During the movie, when Yue turns to grab a handful of popcorn, she lets herself quickly glance at Suki’s profile, seeing the movie’s light reflecting beautifully in her eyes. She always looks back at her hand, though, before reaching into the popcorn bag, avoiding accidentally bumping her hand into Suki’s. Having that happen just once is more than embarrassing enough for Yue. 

And when she stares in the screen’s direction, Yue wonders when she should tell Suki. Maybe during the scene where Nuktuk professes his love to Ginger? Or will that come on too strong?

Suki sighs and taps Yue on the shoulder, whispering, “You might as well watch the movie you paid for, even if you  _ have _ seen it a million times.” 

Yue’s eyebrows scrunch a little in confusion. “I  _ am _ watching.” 

“No you’re not. You’re in your head again.” Suki arches an eyebrow. “I can tell, you know. You can’t hide from me.” 

Yue’s heart pounds. “Hide what?” 

“ _ Psst _ .” Sokka, voice hushed, leans forward, placing his head between the women. “Can you two stop flirting? I’m trying to watch a movie over here!” 

Yue’s cheeks warm, a telltale crimson blush spreading across her face, and she stuffs her face full of popcorn, all her focus now on trying not to cry.  _ She knows. She knows I love her, but she hasn’t done anything about it.  _ Yue closes her eyes, willing her tears to stay put. She doesn’t dare look over at Suki, knowing one glance at the woman’s face will send Yue’s tears tumbling down.  _ She doesn’t love me back.  _

❣

Yue doesn’t hang out with the group for the next two days, instead laying around her apartment, trying to get herself to at least watch a movie, but she doesn’t have the emotional energy to do anything but cry. 

A year of pining. A year of getting butterflies just at the sound of Suki’s special text tone from Yue's phone. A year of Yue dreaming of holding Suki’s hand, of holding Suki close, of kissing Suki softly. Sometimes roughly. A full year of falling in love, and Suki knew the whole time. A year of Suki not loving her back. 

_ She must’ve felt so awkward around me all the time.  _ Yue plops down onto her bed and covers her face with her hands.  _ They’ll never let me back in the friend group now. No more Mario Party, no more Nuktuk showings, no more Suki.  _

Suki’s text tone sounds from Yue’s phone in the other room, and instead of butterflies, it just makes Yue feel sick. The sounds chimes a few more times, and Yue buries her face in a pillow, trying to muffle her cries, a noise she’s tired of listening to. 

Her phone rings. Yue lets the first three calls go, but at the fourth, she rolls out of bed and groans the whole way over to the phone. “Hi, Suki.”

“Yue.” Suki’s voice is so far away, even through the phone, and despite the fact that Yue has spent the past two days telling herself over and over that she can’t feel this way anymore, she immediately wants to melt in Suki’s sound. “Are you okay?” A dumb question, and they both know it, so Yue says nothing. 

But Suki presses anyway. “Yue?”

Tears blue her vision. She takes a shaky breath. “Suki, I—” Her voice breaks. “I’m so sorry.” 

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I just—I meant to tell you, but I couldn’t, and—”

“Yue, stop. Just stop. I’m taking you out for a walk, okay? Fresh air will help.”

Yue shakes her head. “No, I really don’t want to, Suki, I’m fine, really.” Suki doesn’t say anything for a few moments, and the silence hangs heavily. Yue sighs and presses her fingers into the sore spots on her forehead.  _ Always knows how to get what she wants.  _ “Okay. Okay, fine. Fine.” 

“Great. I’m here. Open your door.” 

Suki’s a little bit right; the fresh air in Republic City Park at least helps Yue breathe. The bright green grass and soft hills are picturesque, with tall, green, red, and yellow-leaved trees adorning the landscape. But despite all the sun and shine, Yue’s chest feels heavy, and her head aches. Yue and Suki walk side to side, occasionally making small talk about the scene around them, but remaining mostly silent. 

They start crossing a small, stone bridge, and, wordlessly, both women stop halfway, turning to lean against its edge and gaze into the clear water. 

Yue tries to focus more on the silvery fish swimming below than on the press of Suki’s shoulder against her own. On how it feels like her whole body’s sore except for where her arm touches Suki’s. On how she wants to wrap herself around Suki and feel the soreness melt into bliss. After a few minutes, Suki finally speaks. “I can’t believe I dragged you out here in your pajamas.” 

Yue laughs half-heartedly. Silence falls again, and Yue knows it’s her turn to speak, but she doesn’t know how to begin. How to tell her. She glances to the side, expecting Suki to be looking at the water, but meeting Suki’s eyes instead. Yue gulps, then breathes out short and quick. “I don’t know how to start.” 

Suki nods. “Take your time.” 

Yue closes her eyes. She knows what she wants to say, but she knows what Suki will say in return, so  _ it’s better if I don’t say it at all, right?  _ But that cursed mantra she’s been chanting for months now in her head comes back, pulsing along with her heartbeat:  _ I’m going to tell her. I’m going to tell her.  _ Yue opens her eyes, and she wants to cry because Suki’s blue eyes are on hers, and a green hair tie holds half her brown hair back, and she’s effortlessly beautiful, even as she’s about to break Yue’s heart.  _ Tell her now. Tell her now.  _

“I’m in love with you.” The words tingle on Yue’s tongue. Suki’s eyes widen, and Yue’s confession tumbles out, the dam having been broken. “I’m in love with you. I love you. And I know you don’t feel the same way, and I’m really sorry for making things so awkward, I just really thought you didn’t know and—”

While Yue rambles, Suki takes a step back, blinking. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

Yue stops. “What?” 

“You said … you said I don’t feel the same way?”

“Well … yeah …” Yue’s throat feels dry. “At the movies, you said I can’t hide from you, and so I knew you know, but you didn’t do anything about it, so I knew … you don’t … you know.” 

Suki stands in a stunned silence for a few seconds that, to Yue, feel like a few minutes. “Spirits.” 

“I know, and listen, I’m really sorry—” 

“S _ pirits _ !” Suki says, louder, a smile starting to form at her mouth’s ends. “Spirits, Yue! I can’t believe you thought that I … Yue, at the movies, I just meant that you couldn’t pretend to be okay around me when you’re not. I didn’t mean anything else. I didn’t know anything else.” 

Yue swears her throat is swelling with how difficult it is for her to speak. “What?” 

Suki laughs and steps closer, cupping Yue’s face with her hands, and Republic City Park disappears, the only two beings in existence being her and Suki, with Suki holding her more tenderly than she has ever dreamed of. 

And when Suki speaks, it’s butterflies and green and caressing and  _ loving.  _ “Yue, I’ve been flirting with you for, like, the past year.” 

“Really?” Yue whispers.

“Yue!” Suki shakes her head in disbelief. “Just this week, at Zuko and Sokka’s, I told you that I could do fifty push-ups with you on my back because I knew everyone would make you go along with it. That was flirting.”

“Oh.”

“And two days ago, at the movies, I asked to sit next to you. That was  _ flirting _ .” 

“Oh.”

Suki rests her forehead against Yue’s, grinning. “Oh.” Suki licks her lips, eyes darting between Yue’s mouth and eyes. “I thought _you_ knew, but _you_ didn't feel the same way. I love you back, Yue.” 

Dazed, Yue leans forward and kisses Suki, and all she can taste is summer, and all she can feel is Suki’s hands on her face, knees brushing hers, love in her breath, and all she can think is  _ finally.  _

Yue laughs, and Suki pulls back, her own smile teetering on the edge of laughter. “What? What is it?”

Yue looks up at Suki. “Nothing.” 

Suki kisses Yue, shorter this time, hands dropping from Yue’s face to take her hands, intertwining their fingers. Suki then kisses Yue’s cheeks, then forehead, then dots little pecks down the length of Yue’s nose, making Yue laugh again. Suki squeezes Yue’s hands, pulling Yue along as she starts to finish crossing the bridge. “Let’s go home, love.” She pulls Yue close for another kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic ever hhhh so i hope u didn't hate it lol


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